Hotels and Globalization

1. Pre-Reading Task:

Do you think the hotels for business trips and for holiday trips should be different?
If yes, in what way?
If no, explain why.

2. Read the article.

The US represents a considerable challenge. It is very structured and hotel chains are very strong. US hotels developed by franchises which were very profitable – perhaps because of the size of the market and the image of the brands – but which are far less profitable in Europe or Asia.
Our initial expectations with our Sofitel and Novotel hotels in the US were disappointing. Accor was one of the first hotel chains set up in Europe. But in the US, competition was very intense and we had limited means. In the service sector, you need critical mass very quickly. US companies can spread their marketing and publicity expenses across an intensive network. We were a small group coming in against a vast army.
We were leaders in budget hotels, and with our brands such as Formule 1, we are now the world leader. With the acquisition of Motel 6, we have become leader in value-for-money hotels in the US management for Motel 6, but we changed that and now have French executives who have been very effective.
Accor has to be a global company, in view of the revolution in service sector which is taking place. I do not see any future for purely national hotel chains – except for very specific niche markets with special architecture and locations, such as Raffles in Singapore or the Ritz in Paris. National chains cannot optimize their operations. They cannot invest enough money. Having globalization as an objective also has the advantage of spreading our risks.
We are expanding in developing countries such as Poland, Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia. There may be economic problems in the one to two years to come in one of these countries, but with a good geographical spread we can avoid worrying about the next two years and take a view instead over five to seven years.
Globalization brings considerable challenges which are often underestimated. The main difficulty is getting our local management to follow the values of our group. Our Indonesian managers must understand our market and culture, for example, and we have to learn about theirs. Our executives use video-conferencing and their technical means to keep in touch and are traveling non-stop on aircraft around the world. Every morning when I wake I think about the challenges of coordinating our operations in many different countries.

From the Financial Times

3. Translate these sentences into good Russian.

1. Globalization brings considerable challenges which are often underestimated.
2. Our executives use video-conferencing and their technical means to keep in touch and are traveling non-stop on aircraft around the world.
3. I think about the challenges of coordinating our operations in many different countries.
4. With a good geographical spread we can avoid worrying about the next two years and take a view instead over five to seven years.
5. National chains cannot optimize their operations.
6. Having globalization as an objective also has the advantage of spreading our risks.
7. Our initial expectations in the US were disappointing.
8. With the acquisition of Motel 6, we have become leader in value-for-money hotels.
9. I do not see any future for purely national hotel chains – except for very specific niche markets.
10. The US represents a considerable challenge.

4. Correct these statements in your own words:

1. The group can easily be managed from Paris by using video-conferencing.
2. We have lots to teach them but they have nothing to teach us.
3. We can easily teach local managers about the values of the Accor group.
4. The challenges of globalisation are often thought to be more difficult than they really are.

5. Find the adjectives used to describe these things mentioned in the first half of the article.

1. the size of the US hotel “army”;
2. the size of Accor “troop”;
3. the size of the US hotel networks;
4. competition in the US;
5. Accor’s first experience in the US;
6. The existing US franchises;
7. The challenge of getting into the US hotel market.

6. Big Matching Game

a) Match the words to build new word combinations:

1. intense	a. up
2. values	b. expenses
3. initial	c. challenge
4. service	d. location
5. to spread	e. the operation
6. publicity	f. means
7. to be	g. network
8. special	h. competition
9. considerable	i. money
10. to set	j. experiences
11. to optimise	k. risks
12. limited	l. chain
13. to invest	m. sector
14. hotel	n. of the group
15. extensive	o. profitable

b) Now compete with your classmates. Individually or in small groups make the longest sentence trying to include as many word-combinations as possible.

7. Each paragraph in the article is an answer by Jean-Marc Espalioux to a question put by the journalist who wrote it. Reread paragraphs=answers and write down possible corresponding questions. There can be a number of possibilities in each case. To check whether your questions are logical, play a guessing game with your classmates: you ask a question and they try to find the corresponding paragraph=answer.

8. Countries Puzzle!

1) Find all the below-mentioned countries in the puzzle.

2) Name the capitals of these countries and the language(s) they speak there.

9. Puzzle

Unscramble each of the clue words.
Copy the letters in the numbered cells to other cells with the same number to discover the hidden message.
As soon as you get the message – discuss it with your classmates.

Hotel and Home

Is it always true or not? Give your reasons.

KEY:

Ex. 6. 1. h; 2. n; 3. j; 4. m; 5. k; 6. b; 7. o; 8. d; 9. c; 10. a; 11. e; 12. f; 13. i; 14. l; 15. g

Ex. 9. Unscrambled words are: franchise, profitable, size, experience, follow, market, culture, niche, location, hotel, chain, company, intense, publicity, management, problem, example, aircraft, travelling

Hidden message is: East or West – home is best.